CHAPTER 1

PLEBOTOMY AND THE HEALTH-CARE DELIVERY SYSTEM

Phlebotomy
o “An incision into a vein”
o One of the oldest medical procedures, dating
back to early Egyptians.
Bloodletting
o Used to cure disease and maintain the body
in a state of well-being
Hippocrates
o Believed that disease was caused by an
excess of body fluids, including blood, bile
and phlegm and that removal of the excess
would cause the body to return to or
maintain a healthy state.
Bloodletting techniques:

 Suction cup devices with lancets that pulled

blood from the incision
 Application of blood sucking worm (leeches)
to an incision
 Barber surgery, in which blood from an
incision produced by the barber’s razor was
collected in a bleeding bowl.
Bloodletting is now called “therapeutic
phlebotomy” and is used as a treatment for only a
small number of blood disorder. It is performed
using equipment designed to minimize patient
discomfort and with antiseptic techniques.

PHELBOTOMY NOW
Phlebotomy
o Collection of blood samples for laboratory
analysis to diagnose and monitor medical
conditions
o Specialized area of clinical laboratory
practice and has brought about the creation
of the job title “phlebotomist”